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Today (Monday) I talked with several people, fans and just area residents, that informed me they had caught the end of the game on ESPN or ESPN2. Seems to be alittle bit of confusion over which cable channel had the game on. One Buckeye fantold me it was originally on ESPN2 and cut off for a WNBA game. He told me he wasabout to call the cable company when a crawler appeared stating the game could beseen on ESPN.Thanks ESPN. I know they love the Zips.

Zips schedule another <sigh> road game. No one, but no one wants to visit the mustyold JAR.Chicago, Ill. - The UIC men's basketball team released its 2006-07 schedule on Monday afternoon with seven contests versus NCAA Tournament teams from last season, including in-state showdowns with Illinois and Bradley, highlighting a rigorous 31-game regular-season slate for the Flames, who have posted five straight winning campaigns. ...UIC is back in the Pavilion on Dec. 16 to take on Akron. The contest with the Zips starts a grueling stretch of four games in seven days with trips to Mississippi (Dec. 19) and Penn (Dec. 21) slated for mid-week before the Flames welcome Illinois State to the Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 23.

I suppose you missed the point(s).First, the man already KNEW the outcome of the Texas-OSU game. He was flaming me.His question was intended to offset the enthusiastic conversation he over heard that wasabout Akron's local school. Like many middle aged people he was raised on scarletand grey.Miss Manners I am not.My response was intended to convey that the only college team that matters to me isAkron. I have no personal problem with people who choose to root for both Akron andColumbus State. Personally, I do not have a complex that requires me to side with an overdog that most likely cheats and probably pays their players. Let's face it. Jim Tressel does NOT have a squeaky clean record. He had issues at YSU and issues atOSU. If all you care about is standing with a winner and selling your soul is not aproblem. Fine. I do. Second, I gave ample credit to Luke Getsy. His overall performance simply does notrate kissing contests. He takes way, way, way, way, way to long to make a decision.His two quick runs at the end of the game impressed me. Either they were calledplays or something clicked in his mind and he reacted well.I want Getsy to succeed.

Cower played LB @ NCST.

Made the drive to Raleigh in a very nice rental car, 2007 Poncho Grand Prix ($20.49/day)Long trip with lots of scenery. Gas for $2.19 at exit 46 on I-77. Much higher the rest ofthe way. Bought gas near Raleigh for $2.37. Parking was much better than PSU. Ten bucks in a paved lot with access to a buildinghaving excellent restrooms men and ladies. My companion being female appreciatedthe fine restroom. Stadium restrooms were excellent as well.Carter-Finley easily the best stadium I have visited in all my years of trekking to Zipsaway games. Great facility. Hope it looked good on TV. One NCST fan post gamecommented to me that if Akron had a stadium like Carter-Finley the Zips would be anational power and have great attendance. I agree.NCST fans were totally shocked and dismayed. Still, they were gracious and said mostlygood things about the Zips.Truth is, Akron did more than win the football game. The Zips beat up on the Wolfpackin most stats. We are becoming a really good football team thanks to JD Brookhart.I spoke to coach JD for several minutes Sunday afternoon. He was starting the preparationfor the upcoming game. He mentioned that savoring the victory was already in the past.He confirmed that official sideline cameras proved that yes, Dennis Kennedy did scorethe winning touchdown. They replayed the video more than thirty times and no part of his body touched the ground before his elbow made contact several inches into the end zone.Further, the sideline cameras also proved that the NCST QB was beyond the line ofscrimmage. Remember, the officials were an all ACC crew. A little help for a strugglingACC member? Who knows. And, so what? Zips 20, Wolfies 17. I am still not a Luke Getsy fan. I give Luke the game ball for his gritty fourth quarterdouble comeback performance. He earned it. Still, he holds the ball way too long.He is not getting enough protection. I think the heat did in NCST defense in the fourthallowing Getsy more time.As for Rasor's comments about the improved look on Sunday's front sports page Iconcur. I was surprised and pleased to see that the Zips got center stage while thatteam from booniesburg got their fair share as well. An excellent layout earning theAkron Beacon Journal some respect. How sweet that NCST's color beingred and white would catch the reader's eye and cause them to assume the picture was of you know whom. Thus getting even more eyeballs on the Zips great win.For the moment, we will give the Beacon a pass. Let's see if its real. If it is, in threeyears the main college sports team in this area will be the Zips. Yes, they have thatmuch influence. I would even start buying the paper daily again. 'Cause I ain't payingto read about the Suckeyes.Last point ... I chatted with a couple of young employees at The Record Exchange. Yep,I'm so cheap I buy used music. Bought an original cast score of the Phantom of the Operawhich I later played rather loudly in the car stereo as I drove over to the Lady Zipssoccer match. They won. Kudos.A middle aged man asked me in the store parking lot if I knew the score of the Buckeye game. I said, "Yes, so what?". He was itching for a fight because I stated that I couldnot care less what the outcome of the game is. He made remarks about my manhood.I'll let my three adult children confirm my manhood.Go Zips. Just looked at Mapquest and Mount Pleasant is only a five hour drive. Hmmm

Dang. I just woke up a bit ago after driving ten hours to get back from Raleigh. Oh, just to prove I was in Raleigh two points; GP1 is correct that 680 AM is NCST's flagship station as we listened to the after game analysis and call-in show until it ended at7 PM and I had the nice 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix rental car ($20.49/day with unlimitedmileage) well into Virginia. Second, fueled up at Fuel City on I-40 ($2.37/gal) on the return trip.Points made in the NC area newspapers strongly indicated that Kennedy scored. So, quit whining. They also reported that the officials were an all ACC crew. The host on the call-in show made mention that he had reports that the review of the play where theNCST QB may have been past the line of scrimmage on a broken pass play saying that"NC State got some 'help' from the officials".The alleged photo is probably real. It simply is a freeze frame snap of a series ofpictures taken in very short intervals. Nowhere in the picture does Kennedy appear tobe touching the ground. He is moving through the air on the lunge for the goal line.It certainly appears that unless stopped (and his whole upper body end up in the endzone) he was going to make it easily into the end zone before making ground contact.Seeing the stunned look on thousands of fans dressed in a horrible, horrible color waspriceless. Not many were pissy. Most were congratulatory and even complimentary.It was darn hot. I picked up a sunburn in that horrible, horrible color.One last thing ... NCST has the nicest stadium for a college team I have ever been in.

You weren't impressed by Penn State? Boy, I sure was. They are big, fast, skillful andwell coached. They outplayed, out athleted and out hustled the Zips. Worse they committed far fewer mental errors. All in all, PSU is simply a better team.Your evaluation of the Big Ten is way off in my eyes. Penn State should contendfor the third spot with Iowa. The Motor City Bowl is likely looking at Michigan State orMinnesota as the eighth placed BT team. Most likely the Suckeyes will be in the titlegame of the BCS making the number two BT team the number one team in their bowlbid stack.Penn State, wet or dry, is about a two touchdown level better than Akron. Actually,that means we are the BEST Akron team we have ever fielded in the history of the school. The talent level is way better than just two or three years ago.That puts the Zips in good company. About fifth place in the Big Ten standings. Few BTschools are going to fair any better in Happy Valley than Akron did. The kids playedtheir hearts out. They never quit. I like this team and its chances. Sure, there arethings to fix. JD will get them corrected. I do not think there will be a midseason letdown like last year.If its true, and it generally is, that a team makes the most progress between its first andsecond game, Akron is likely to "upset" North Carolina State. We sharpened our clawson a far better opponent in our opener than did NCSU. We pushed PSU enough tohelp them build for a real shot at upsetting Notre Dame. Had PSU played a doormatAkron team of the past or some other patsy they would have no chance against an NDteam that opened against a quality opponent who stretched them.While I personally despise "sportsman <gag> Joe Pa I would love to see PSU beat theIrish (and I'm a Catholic). Makes the Zips look better, too.

Coming home from the Penn State game my son and I stopped at Snappy gas stationin Clearfield, PA. Just in front of us in line was Mike Barto. He was with Steve McNees and a walk-on Jason Liemeyer (sp).Nice chat. Barto is HUGE. Six-ten and growing. He has a wing span I think he could fly with.The kids were in good spirits and itching for their season.Learned that the Pitt deal is DEAD. Pitt's coach Dixon (I'll play anybody, anywhere, anytime, except Akron) has declined playing at Akron this year. No balls. No guts. Noglory and soon, no job.The exempt tournament at Arizona State is on.Akron needs one more home game to complete their scheduling.Oh, the kids did not know of any walk on that left the program unless it was "some kidfrom St.V's".

I rarely see "eye to eye" with Terry Pluto.Like most Zips fans I frequently refer to Mr. Pluto as "Tammy" and his belovedLeakin Urinal. Mr. Pluto has rarely (far to rarely) been a supporter of his local college.All to often he has shilled the grand and glorious overdog Suckeye State.That said, I think Mr. Pluto for once gave an honest evaluation of the Akron vs PennState game. He quite correctly pointed out that Akron stretched the Nitts to beingFORCED to play their first team offense and defense to the end of the game.There is a a talent gap and it showed. As Pluto correctly observed the gap is narrowingrapidly. This Akron team is a lot tougher opponent than the doormat role they playedin 1999 and 2004.Driving back from Unhappy Valley I listened on the radio to the post game drivel of thevapid Nitts talking heads. One moron (hope the fool reads this) boasted that only a fewmiscues by the mighty Nitts prevented them from turning the game into a blow out.Truth be told, only a few miscues prevented the Zips from making the game a lot morescary for Nitt fans than it was. A better played game of less stupid penalties, poortackling, better decision making, etc) and the Zips would have been toe to toe with theNitts.Luke Getsy is an ordinary QB that could be come a great one with two simpleimprovements. Develop a quicker release of the ball. He reminds me of good highschool QBs that keep looking for a better opportunity than the first one he sees. Thushangs on to the ball way too long resulting in five sacks yesterday. Second, scramble.Luke seems to be rooted in cement when he drops back, His feet are planted at alltimes. Some times you just have to move. Luke passed up at least two opportunitiesto run the ball. These ended up being sacks.I hate losing.What I saw on the field yesterday did Akron proud. We competed in a tough houseagainst a very good football tram. We never caved.Joe Pa is one classless unsportsman like son of a bitch. Its a damned lie about himbeing a great sportsman. In 1999 he ruthlessly sent his first team back on the fieldin the fourth quarter to run up the score to cover the 45 point spread. Yesterday aftera 28 yard run back on an interception giving the Nitts excellent field position at theAkron thirty and six minutes to play. Joe Pa, the sportsman, has his number oneoffense unit in. On the first play Morelli attempted a touchdown pass that wasbroken up by the Zips backs. A sportsman coach leading 31-9 would have runsimple belly series plays. There was no need to run up the score. Sportsman, my ass.The Nitts settled for a field goal. At 34-9 with four minutes to play, the Zips showed their class. They took the kick off on a long drive and scored a touchdown. Theywere still full of fight. Akron got the ball back one more time after the great sportsman Joe Pa <gag>played the Nitts final offensive series with the back ups. They promptly went threeand out against a very tired and wet Zips team.The real class was JD Brookhart. When Akron drove toward the Nitts goal and wereclose as time ran out. JD did not send in one last pass for the end zone. No, JDsent in a belly series play to run a tired Dennis Kennedy in to line. Thus concedinggraciously the victory to the Nitts. That's class. The real value of this game to Penn State is that Akron gave them a real opponentto get prepared for their road game against Notre Dame next week. For this they shouldbe most grateful.

Received a telephone call from a university staff member Wednesday evening with anupdate on the parking situation.Apparently wise heads at the university now realize that the $500 "gift" was more of ashot in the back side. Thus, they are seeking smaller donations for said premiumparking places.I was asked to contribute $100 (a far, far more reasonable request). I countered witha suggestion of my own. How about a donation of $99 in the form of a family pack ofseason tickets? Good idea. Boosts the season ticket holder count by four (I already have my reserved section tickets paid for), chance to spread good will by donating the family pack tickets to various friends who rarely or never attend Zips games.Done deal. The university gets $99 and boosts the season ticket holder count and gainsground on the 15,000 requirement.I strongly urge that all of you consider this option.

Improvement on Sunday.The Zips actually played as a team for the most part, despite lapses. At times theylooked decent. Not top shelf, but serviceable.The defensemen could actually be heard from the stands. The midfielders and forwardsare still mutes. Clemson communicated the best of the teams.Although I criticized number seven (Ashley Kozicki) for his poor, lazy performance onFriday, I freely admit his play on Sunday was considerably better. While he got nocredit in the line score, his centering kick put the ball in play that led to the Zips goal.It was an excellent placement to the left wing side allowing the cross that became anassist on the goal. I probably was not the only one who was disappointed in his Friday evening play as he did not start on Sunday.Oddly, St. John's is a better team than Creighton. Creighton won the tournament inspite of sloppy play. They benefited from two freak plays and winning a PK shootout.Clemson dominated the game, but on a freak "own goal" allowed Creighton to tie thescore. A shot on Clemson's goal hit a defender's head and bounced high into the air coming down and finding its way into the net. Creighton's other goal came on trippingin the box giving them a point blank penalty kick that was easily converted. Creighton was penalized and yellow carded far more than Clemson.Back to the Zips. Not sure if its a matter of the players learning a new system or theirswelled egos. Time will tell. The Zips will get tested next weekend in Virginia when theyface Davidson and UC-Santa Barbara. Two decent teams that will test the Zips metal.

Sadly, I have to concur with SKHORBOTLY. Frankly, the Zips stunk the joint up.They were listless, lazy and played like they had never heard of socker. Was it their selfish egos or a new system or what?Hardly anyone put any effort out. Most of the match was played in front of the Akron net.My lady friend who attended with me is a huge and knowledgeable socker fan. She had nothing good to say about the Zips and she is a Zips fan. In her opinion there is somekind of infighting going on, probably a power struggle. She said that the Zips playedjust a little better after halftime where they probably got a royal ass chewing.We left ten minutes into the second half because it started to rain. We were on the road when the down pour occurred. Heard all the fireworks going off as we were getting to the car. Couldn't see them, must have been the best part of the evening from the sounds.At any rate they better get an attitude adjustment by Sunday.Clemson looks to be the best team in the field and they would drill the lazy, snotty, selfish, arrogant damn near worthless Zipettes. They suck. What a shame.btw ... #7 ... you would be off my team. You are frackin worthless. I hope Caleb runs your lazy, shiftless butt until you drop.Play the freshmen we have no senior leadership.

Two more home dates seem certain. Heard that two "cupcakes" have found their way onto the Zips schedule. St. Francis of PA and Winston-Salem State (a provisional D-Iprogram) are coming to the JAR.There will NOT be an A-10 opponent in the JAR. Not this year, but Temple comes herenext year in basketball and probably football as well.The staff is working on playing in an exempt tournament. They are a really popular wayto sneak in a couple of extra regular season games. While I know more than I willsay here ... suffice it to say that its at a PAC-10 venue. This would be a three gametournament similar to the San Juan Shootout of last year.

M. Stewart:Honestly? The one thing the LU is extremely good at is lining the bottom of a bird cage.I personally do not own a bird nor wrap dead fish.So, how do you get me back as a consumer?For me there are a couple of issues.One ... I live near the City of Akron in Wadsworth. Last time I checked Columbusis a two hour drive from Akron. But, the LU treats a certain Columbus state schoolgenerally known as the Suckeyes (I think its some kind of poisonous or useless fish)as if it were "thee" only important college sports team on the planet.ut ut aw ... please do not reach for your can of bullship. The LU was (and still is )a major contributor to the fetid minds that bleat like sheep that the Suckeyes aretheir team. What the bloody hey do you expect when the local newspaper has pamperedthose arrogant asses for the past eighty or ninety years? Kids in Akron grow up beingtaught that they are Suckeye fans. By who? By you the LU.So long as the LU continues to feature that Columbus school over its own local university in the sports pages I will continue to sell others on the idea that the LU isnot fit to read.No, I do not want equal column inches nor Cant plus Akron equals Suckeye inches.I want my local newspaper to feature the town I live in. In case you are unaware of how stupid people at the LU are ... they actually changed the newspaper's name from,get this, The Akron Beacon Journal to The Beacon Journal.Arrogant, vain, petty attempt to become a "regional" (what ever the hell that is)newspaper. Sales, of course, slumped.As a fan of the University of Akron sports I want full, solid and sometimes criticalcoverage of Zips sports. Oh, sure, by all means, wean people off of the Suckeyes.Cover Akron sports. Columbus and the Suckeyes have their own newspaper.Here's a tip. As a retired person I frequent small restaurants and coffee shops. Eventhough the Cleveland Plain Dealer costs more at the news boxes it easily out sellsYour rag. Hmmmmm.... wonder why. Cover Akron you idiots.Second point. Weed out the racist and biased columnists stories. They NEVER belong on the front page of the newspaper as a "news" story. A few months backCarl Chancellor had a bylined top of the front page article about a new abortion law.Mizz Chancellor took it upon himself to vilify the people opposed to abortion in a long,tedious rant. That crap (a polite term) belonged on the op ed page.Mizz Chancellor is a well known racist liberally biased ass who does not belong writing news stories. Sure, he is entitled to his opinions ... on the op ed page.I dislike Mizz Chancellor thanks to his writings. I strongly suggest you employanother writer to counter balance his extreme tilt to the left.Third point. Employ a full time beat writer to cover University of Akron sports.Use the wire services to cover Ohio State. You will save money and increase yourcirculation. Only dead heads and old people are Suckeye fans. I am neither.Frankly, I woill be amazed if you actually read this far and I get an intelligent reply.At least the Internet crowd of Zips fans will get to enjoy one of their own respondingto your call to speak up.I remain the Midnight Skulker, er, GoZips

Confirmed by JD at Meet the Team event.Alex Allen is lost for 2006. Will be given a medical red shirt.

Big Mike makes a return to the Xavier AD post after the illustrious Dawn Rogers resigns.New Again Xavier AD

Near as I can determine, based on current knowledge the Zips out of conferenceschedule shapes up like this thus far:Home Games: Nevada Loyola Marymount ESPN Bracket Buster possible A10 opponent Away Games: Youngstown State Niagara Oakland Duquesne Oral RobertsObviously there are still some open dates. No one is going to accuse Akron ofplaying a rugged road schedule. The first four of the teams listed are to say the leastbeatable. In fact, not one of them is a power RPI. Oral Roberts is a fairly toughroad opponent even though they do not have a marque name.

An excellent source informs me that the Zips will host Loyola Marymont (LMU).The Zips also travel to Oral Roberts.The Zips are close to getting a well known Atlantic Ten team for a home game. No, itsnot Temple, they are playing at Cant this year. BUT, Temple comes to Akron nextyear.The out of conference schedule is far from complete. No one, not even low majorscare venture into an arena where the host team is on an 18 game win streak.Gary "we'll play anybody, anywhere, any time" Waters REFUSES to play in Akron.

If Cant got him and they probably did ... someone has to go. A little birdy told me thatCant's much tauted JUCO player is out. Win one, lose on.

CAP'N ... I'm with you.That kid had about zilch interest in Akron. That Akron had an interest in him had littleto do with the article. It was more of a sidebar than a story on Zips recruiting.The stinkin' Leakin' Urinal has been one of the least supportive news rags of its localityof any paper in the country. Which is why I stopped subscribing to it over twenty yearsago.I am Akron born and bred. I grew up with the Ohio State bias. It even played a partin determining where I went to college which was not the University of Akron. Fortunatelyit was not OSU either.Today I am proud to be a University of Akron alumnus.I never attended Ohio State. I do not support them other than the tax dollars ripped out of my wallet. Let the Columbus rag hype the Suckeyes. The ABJ (remember whenthey dropped the word Akron from their name?) needs to grow some onions then supportand be a part of the community they serve. Our local team is NOT the Suckeyes.And for all you so called Zips supporters that claim you can support the Suckeyes too ...in the TV modified words of Al "Scent of a Woman" Pacino .. "frig you, too".

This is one of those don't know whether to laugh or cry. Lindy's is wildly optimistic aboutthe Zips while Athlon is grossly pessimistic. Which is it?While its highly unlikely that we are the 42nd best team in the country being ranked 88thsmells of anti-Akron bias. The writer for Athlon is supposedly VanDelay of VanDelaySports. Most of you visit his web site on occasion. Athlon ranks Akron fourth in the MAC behind NIU, Toledo and Miami. What is most odd is that Athlon rates Miami as having the best 2006 recruiting class when Akron had fourplayers in the top 20. Oddly, not only did the three Miami players listed in the top 20fall in behind the four Akron recruits, Miami had an over all smaller recruiting class thandid the Zips. Go figure.Athlon's Top 20 MAC Recruits: #1 Nate Davis QB BSU #2 Mark Jackson OC Akron #3 Barry Church DB Toledo #4 Andre Boone RB Akron #5 Jordan Stevens DE Miami #6 Terrence McCrae WR Ohio #7 PJ Mahone DB BGSU #8 Jan Gewont OL Toledo #9 Aaris Reed RB Akron #10 David Harvey WR Akron #11 Quinton Rainey RB/LB Can't State #12 Jared Dewalt OL Toledo #13 Peris Edwards DB Miami #14 Brandon Jackson LB BGSU #15 Jerome Jones TE/LB Toledo #16 Horace Hubbard DL Ohio #17 Jaymeson Moody DE WMU #18 Andre Hatchett LB EMU #19 Martin Channels DL Miami #20 DJ Young DL BGSU Athlon ranked teams by position as well.Akron does not fare well in these rankings. With a well seasoned offensive line just howdo the Zips rank eighth place of 12 teams for OL? You tell me.We get love for quarterback for a kid who is still learning the game. This tells me thatthe QB position in the MAC is going to have an off year.But what really surprises me is the no love for our defense which was with in a fractionof a yard yielded of besting Toledo for the best defense last season.I hope NIU's #1 ranked DBs are as generous to us this year as they were last year. TheirDBs cost them both games.Akron #1QB #5RB #6WR/TE #8OL #3DL #5LB #9DB Miami #5QB #4RB #1WR/TE #2OL #4DL #3LB #2DB NIU #3QB #2RB #7WR/TE #6OL #7DL #6LB #1DB Toledo #9QB #1RB #2WR/TE #1OL #2DL #4LB #3DB Waiting on Street & Smith's, Phil Savage, The Sporting News, etc.

Actually, I e-mailed BOTH of my letters to Mack Rhoades prior to posting them onZipsNation.AD Rhoades was kind enough to return a nice reply to my second post.There are many types of "fans" thast support teams at all levels. He who is withoutpassion is pretty much worthless to an athletic program. Almost as worthless as thecontinual sap sucker who never finds fault or voices a contrary view.Most of the coaches at Akron and a couple other schools know that I am their friend andwill take their "back". It was fitting to stand up for Kelly Kennedy. She took on theworst division one women's basketball program in the country. She busted her butt.After fighting four years to drag that team out of the pits Kennedy was finally seeingsome good recruiting results for her efforts. It was unfortunate that people in powerdecided to pull the rug out from under her efforts. That angered me. She got a bumdeal. Over the many years of supporting University of Akron sports I have weatherednumerous insults. Even to the point of being ejected from games for being vocal.Oddly, on a rabidity scale I wouldn't nudge the needle off the zero peg at most majorprograms. That my voice was called unwanted shows just how pathetic the fans atAkron are.Either you have passion or you are just a passer by.I am proud to see passionate fans beginning to make their voices heard at Akron.For several years I have advocated moving UP to a better conference. My lonevoice in the wilderness has been joined by several others who now see the greatopportunity available to Zips sports.I think that most of you do not know the pressures put on Mack Rhoades. Power peoplehave their pet stars. Power people want this famous name or that famous name.In this case, AD Rhoades obtained the services of the most qualified candidate. Itmatters not that person "X" or person "Y" wanted more money or was the choice ofpower people. Mack got the right person. Jodi Kest will do the Zips proud.

Dear Mack Rhoades;I spoke my mind when you fired coach Kelly Kennedy. I was aghast. The Lady Zipsbasketball program was dead last among division one schools when she took that job.Climbing out of such a deep hole is neigh on impossible. Still, coach Kennedy managedto recruit decent talent. Especially this current incoming class. You simply cannotwin at this level without tall, talented post players. It appeared that two were finally on the way. I hope and pray that new coach Kest can motivate all four recruits to trust her andremain in the Zips program.From what I have read you have managed to sign the very best of the potential coachingcandidates. I realize the pressure from alumni, concerned friends, etc. That was no smalldecision. I am pleased with your choice. In my opinion, coach Kest will bring honor tothe university. She has the skill set, experience and drive to get the job done.Coach Kest is the outstanding choice. Well done.

What I particularily like about our new women's coach Jodi Kest is that she has threetimes turned around a college program from a perennial loser into a winner. Doing thisjust once is no small feat.I hope and pray that Ms. Kest wastes no time in contacting the fall recruits lest we losethem ala Duquesne.Welcome to Akron. Welcome to an arena populated with AK-Rowdies. Welcome to Fearthe Roo where the roo means business. Welcome home.